Ice makers generally produce ice for the use of consumers, such as in drinks being consumed, for cooling foods or drinks to be consumed and/or for other various purposes. Certain refrigerator appliances include ice makers for producing ice. The ice maker can be positioned within the appliance's freezer chamber and direct ice into an ice bucket where it can be stored within the freezer chamber. Such refrigerator appliances can also include a dispensing system for assisting a user with accessing ice produced by the refrigerator appliance's ice maker. However, the incorporation of ice makers into refrigerator appliances can have drawbacks, such as limits on the amount of ice that can be produced and the reliance on the refrigeration system of the refrigerator appliance to form the ice.
Recently, stand-alone ice makers have been developed. These ice makers are separate from refrigerator appliances and provide independent ice supplies. Generally, water may be provided to the ice maker, e.g., by a user, and/or recirculated from melted ice. However, water provided to the appliance may harbor certain undesirable chemicals or germs. Even if water is initially sanitary, undesirable elements may be introduced to an ice container. For instance, the water may carry those elements to other portions of the ice maker. Nonetheless, many stand-alone ice makers fail to account for these concerns.
Accordingly, improved stand-alone ice makers are desired in the art. In particular, cost-effective stand-alone ice makers that address several of the above issues would be advantageous.